[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 74 (Tuesday, June 3, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1076-E1078]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 THE LEGACY OF THE MARSHALL PLAN: PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON'S ADDRESS AT 
               THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MARSHALL PLAN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 3, 1997

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, this past week the United States and the 
countries of Western Europe marked the 50th anniversary of the June 5, 
1947, Commencement Address at Harvard University by then Secretary of 
State George C. Marshall in which the idea of the Marshall Plan are 
first publicly discussed.
  That important anniversary was commemorated last week at a special 
celebration in the Hall of Knights in the Binnenhof in The Hague, the 
capitol of The Netherlands. Attending the festive occasion were the 
heads of state and government of the countries of the European Union 
and other distinguished European leaders.
  Mr. Speaker, just a few days ago, this House considered and adopted a 
resolution which I introduced with the cosponsorship of a number of my 
colleagues, House Concurrent Resolution 63, recommitting the United 
States to the principles of the Marshall Plan. Mr. Speaker, that 
resolution recognizes the wisdom and insight of Secretary Marshall's 
address and of the policy that resulted from it, and it recommits the 
United States to the wise policy first enunciated 50 years ago. I 
appreciate the wisdom of the House in rededicating our Nation to those 
principles.
  Mr. Speaker, representing the United States for this commemoration 
was our President, Bill Clinton. His remarks at the celebration 
represent the best of American statesmanship--recognizing the 
importance of our country's contribution to European recovery 50 years 
ago, the importance of European unification initiated under the 
Marshall Plan and continuing today through the European Union, and the 
importance for democracy of the enduring links that were forged between 
the United States and the countries of Western Europe by our joint 
struggle in World War II, through the cooperation of the Marshall Plan, 
and our long struggle in the Cold War.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that President Clinton's remarks be placed in the 
Record, and I urge my colleagues to give them thoughtful attention. The 
Marshall Plan was truly one of the great milestones of American 
diplomacy, and the President's remarks in Holland place that great act 
of statesmanship in a fitting context.

     Remarks by the President at Commemorative Event for the 50th 
                    Anniversary of the Marshall Plan

       President Clinton. Thank you very much, Mr. Sedee, for 
     sharing your wonderful story. I forgive you for stealing the 
     matchbook from the White House. (Laughter.) In fact, just 
     before we came in, I confess that I had heard did such a 
     thing, so without theft, I brought him some cufflinks and 
     some Oval Office candy for his grandchildren today. 
     (Laughter.)
       Your Majesty, Prime Minister, fellow heads of state and 
     leaders of government, ministers parliamentarian, members of 
     Congress, to the youth leaders from Europe and America, to 
     all of you who had anything to do with or were ever touched 
     by the Marshall

[[Page E1077]]

     Plan. And I'd like to say a special word of appreciation to 
     two distinguished Americans--former ambassadors, General 
     Vernon Walters and Arthur Hartman, who worked on the Marshall 
     Plan as young men, who have come here to be with us today.
       This is a wonderful occasion. We are grateful to the Queen, 
     the government and the people of the Netherlands for hosting 
     us and for commemorating these 50 years. The words of Mr. 
     Sedee reach out to us across the generations, no matter where 
     we come from or what language we speak. They warn us of what 
     can happen when people turn against one another, and inspire 
     us with what we can achieve when we all pull together. That 
     is a message that we should emblazon in our memories.
       Just as we honor the great accomplishments of 50 years ago, 
     as the Prime Minister said so eloquently, we must summon the 
     spirit of the Marshall Plan for the next 50 years and beyond; 
     to build a Europe that is democratic, at peace, and undivided 
     for the first time in history, a Europe that does not repeat 
     the darkest moment of the 20th century, but instead fulfills 
     the brightest promise of the 21st.
       Here in a citadel of a prosperous, tolerant Dutch 
     democracy, we can barely imagine how different Europe was 
     just 50 years ago. The wonderful pictures we saw, with the 
     music, helped us to imagine: some 30,000 dead still lay 
     buried beneath the sea of rubble in Warsaw; 100,000 homes had 
     been destroyed in Holland; Germany in ruins; Britain facing a 
     desperate shortage of coal and electric power; factories 
     crippled all across Europe; trade paralyzed; millions fearing 
     starvation.
       Across the Atlantic, the American people were eager to 
     return to the lives they had left behind during the war. But 
     they heeded the call of a remarkable generation of American 
     leaders--General Marshall, President Truman, Senator 
     Vandenberg--who wanted to work with like-minded leaders in 
     Europe to work for Europe's recovery as they had fought for 
     its survival. They knew that, as never before, Europe's fate 
     and America's future were joined.
       The Marshall Plan offered a cure, not a crutch. It was 
     never a handout; it was always a hand up. It said to Europe, 
     if you will put your divisions behind you, if you work 
     together to help yourselves, then American will work with 
     you.
       The British Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, called the 
     Marshall Plan ``a lifetime to sinking men, bringing hope 
     where there was none.'' From the Arctic Sea to the 
     Mediterranean, European nations grabbed that lifetime, 
     cooperating as never before on a common program of recovery. 
     The task was not easy, but the hope they shared was more 
     powerful than their differences.
       The first ship set sail from Texas to France with 19,000 
     tons of wheat. Soon, on any given day, a convoy of hope was 
     heading to Europe with fuel, raw materials and equipment. By 
     the end of the program in 1952, the Marshall Plan had pumped 
     $13 billion into Europe's parched economies. That would be 
     the equivalent of $88 billion today. It provided the people 
     of Europe with the tools they needed to rebuild their 
     shattered lives. There were nets for Norwegian fishermen, 
     wool for Austrian weavers, tractors for French and Italian 
     farmers, machines for Dutch entrepreneurs.
       For a teenage boy in Germany, Marshall aid was the generous 
     hand that helped lift his homeland from its ruinous past. He 
     still recalls the American trucks driving onto the 
     schoolyard, bringing soup that warmed hearts and hands. That 
     boy grew up to be a passionate champion of freedom and unity 
     in Europe, and a great and cherished friend of America. He 
     became a first Chancellor of a free and unified Germany. In 
     his good life and fine work, Helmut Kohl has come to 
     symbolize both the substance and the spirit of the Marshall 
     Plan. Thank you. (Applause.)
       Today we see the success of the Marshall Plan and the 
     nations it helped to rebuild. But, more, we see it in the 
     relations it helped to redefine. The Marshall Plan 
     transformed the way America related to Europe, and in so 
     doing, transformed the way European nations related to each 
     other. It planted the seeds of institutions that evolved to 
     bind Western Europe together--from the OECD, the European 
     Union and NATO. It paved the way for reconciliation of age-
     old differences.
       Marshall's vision, as has not been noted, embraced all of 
     Europe. But the reality of his time did not. Stalin barred 
     Europe's eastern half, including some of our staunchest 
     allies during World War II, from claiming their seats at the 
     table, shutting them out of Europe's recovery, closing the 
     door on their freedom. But the shackled nations never lost 
     faith and the West never accepted the permanence of their 
     fate. And at last, through the efforts of brave men and 
     women determined to live free lives, the Berlin Wall and 
     the Iron Curtain fell.
       Now, the dawn of new democracies is lighting the way to a 
     new Europe in a new century--a time in which America and 
     Europe must complete the noble journey that Marshall's 
     generation began, and this time with no one left behind. I 
     salute Prime Minister Kok for his leadership, and the 
     leadership his nation has given, to ensure that this time no 
     one will be left behind. (Applause.)
       Twenty-first century Europe will be a better Europe, first, 
     because it will be both free and undivided; second, because 
     it will be united not by the force of arms, but by the 
     possibilities of peace. We must remember, however, that 
     today's possibilities are not guarantees. Though walls have 
     come down, difficulties persist; in the ongoing struggle of 
     newly free nations to build vibrant economies and resilient 
     democracies; in the vulnerability of those who fear change 
     and have not yet felt its benefits; to the appeals of extreme 
     nationalism, hatred and division; in the clouded thinking of 
     those who still see the European landscape as a zero-sum game 
     in terms of the past; and in the new dangers we face and 
     cannot defeat alone--from the spread of weapons of mass 
     destruction to terrorism, to organized crime, to 
     environmental degradation.
       Our generation, like the one before us, must choose. 
     Without the threat of Cold War, without the pain of economic 
     ruin, without the fresh memory of World War II's slaughter, 
     it is tempting to pursue our private agendas--to simply sit 
     back and let history unfold. We must resist that temptation. 
     And instead, we must set out with resolve to mold the hope of 
     this moment into a history we can be proud of.
       We who follow the example of the generations we honor today 
     must do just that. Our mission is clear: We must shape the 
     peace, freedom and prosperity they made possible into a 
     common future where all our people speak the language of 
     democracy; where they have the right to control their lives 
     and a chance to pursue their dreams; where prosperity reaches 
     clear across the continent and states pursue commerce, not 
     conquest; where security is the province of all free nations 
     working together; where no nation in Europe is ever again 
     excluded against its will from joining our alliance of 
     values; and where we join together to help the rest of the 
     world reach the objectives we hold so dear.
       The United States and Europe have embraced this mission. 
     We're advancing across a map of modern miracles. With support 
     from America and the European Union, Europe's newly free 
     nations are laying the cornerstones of democracy. With the 
     help of the USIA's Voice of America, today's celebration is 
     being heard freely by people all across this great continent.
       In Prague, where listening to Western broadcasts was once a 
     criminal offense, Radio Free Europe has made a new home, and 
     an independent press is flourishing. In Bucharest, democracy 
     has overcome distrust, as Romanians and ethnic Hungarians for 
     the very first time are joined in a democratic coalition 
     government.
       Thank you, sir. (Applause.)
       From Vladivostok to Kaliningrad, the people of Russia went 
     to the polls last summer in what all of us who watched it 
     know was a fully democratic, open, national election.
       We must meet the challenge now of making sure this surge of 
     democracy endures. The newly free nations must persevere with 
     the difficult work of reform. America and Western Europe must 
     continue with concrete support for their progress, bolstering 
     judicial systems to fight crime and corruption, creating 
     checks and balances against arbitrary power, helping to 
     install the machinery of free and fair elections so that they 
     can be repeated over and over again, strengthening free media 
     and civic groups to promote accountability, bringing good 
     government closer to the people so that they can have an 
     actual voice in decisions affecting their lives.
       We have also helped new democracies transform their broken 
     economies and move from aid to trade and investment. In 
     Warsaw, men and women who once stood in line for food now 
     share in the fruits of Europe's fastest growing economy, 
     where more than nine of 10 retail businesses rests in private 
     hands. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the international 
     financial institutions have channeled to the new democracy 
     some $50 billion to strengthen the foundations of their 
     market economies. And as markets have emerged, another $45 
     billion in private investment has flowed from places like 
     Boston and London to help support enterprises from Budapest 
     to L'viv.
       Now, as the new democracies continue to scale the mountains 
     of market reform, our challenge is to help them reap more 
     fully the benefits of prosperity, working to make the 
     business climate as stable and secure as possible, investing 
     in their economies, sharing entrepreneurial skills and 
     opening the doors of institutions that enable our community 
     to thrive.
       Again let me say America salutes the European Union's 
     commitment to expand to Central and Eastern Europe. We 
     support this historic process an believe it should move ahead 
     swiftly. A more prosperous Europe will be a stronger Europe 
     and also a stronger partner for Europe's North American 
     friends in America and Canada.
       Nations that tackle tough reforms deserve to know that what 
     they build with freedom they can keep in security. Through 
     NATO, the core of transatlantic security, we can do for 
     Europe's East what we did in Europe's West--defend freedom, 
     strengthen democracy, temper old rivalries, hasten 
     integration, and provide a stable climate in which prosperity 
     can grow.
       We are adapting NATO to take on new missions--opening its 
     doors to Europe's new democracies, bolstering its ties to 
     non-members through a more robust partnership for peace, and 
     forging a practical, lasting partnership between NATO and a 
     democratic Russia--all these things designed to make sure 
     that NATO remains strong, supports the coming together of 
     Europe, and leads in meeting our new security challenges.
       Yesterday in Paris the leaders of NATO and Russia signed 
     the historic Founding Act

[[Page E1078]]

     that will make us all more secure. We will consult, 
     coordinate and, where both agree, act jointly, as we are 
     doing in Bosnia now.
       Now, consider the extraordinary milestone this represents. 
     For decades, the fundamental security concern in Europe was 
     the confrontation between East and West. For the first time, 
     a new NATO and a new Russia have agreed to work as partners 
     to meet challenges to their common security in a new and 
     undivided Europe, where no nation will define its greatness 
     in terms of its ability to dominate its neighbors.
       Now we must meet the challenge of bolstering security 
     across outdated divides, making the NATO partnership work 
     with Russia, continuing NATO's historic transformation.
       In less than six weeks, NATO will meet again in Madrid to 
     invite the first of Europe's new democracies to add their 
     strength to the Alliance. The prospect of NATO membership 
     already has led to greater stability, for aspiring members 
     are deepening reform and resolving the very kinds of disputes 
     that could lead to future conflict.
       The first new members will not be the last. NATO's doors 
     must, and will, remain open to all those able to share the 
     responsibilities of membership. We will strengthen the 
     Partnership for Peace and create a new Euro-Atlantic 
     partnership council so that other nations can deepen their 
     cooperation with NATO and continue to prepare for membership.
       But let us be clear: There are responsibilities as well. 
     Enlargement means extending the most solemn guarantees any 
     nation can make--a commitment to the security of another. 
     Security and peace are not cheap. New and current allies 
     alike must be willing to bear the burden of our ideals and 
     our interests.
       Our collective efforts in Bosnia reflect both the urgency 
     and the promise of our mission. Where terror and tragedy once 
     reigned, NATO troops are standing with 14 partner nations--
     Americans and Russians, Germans and Poles, Norwegians and 
     Bulgarians, all in common cause to bring peace to the heart 
     of Europe. Now we must consolidate that hard-won peace, 
     promote political reconciliation and economic reconstruction, 
     support the work of the International War Crimes Tribunal 
     here in The Hague, and help the Bosnian peace make the 
     promise of the Dayton Accord real.
       Today I affirm to the people of Europe, as General Marshall 
     did 50 years ago: America stands with you. We have learned 
     the lessons of history. We will not walk away.
       No less today than five decades ago, our destinies are 
     joined. For America the commitment to our common future is 
     not an option, it is a necessity. We are closing the door on 
     the 20th century, a century that saw humanity at its worst 
     and at its most noble. Here, today, let us dedicate ourselves 
     to working together to make the new century a time when 
     partnership between America and Europe lifts the lives of all 
     the people of the world.
       Let us summon the spirit of hope and renewal that the life 
     story of Gustaaf Sedee represents. He has a son, Bert, who is 
     a bank executive. Today, he is helping to fulfill the legacy 
     his father so movingly described--for just as the Marshall 
     Plan made the investment that helped Holland's industry 
     revive, Bert Sedee's bank is helping Dutch companies finance 
     investments in Central and Eastern Europe. Just as the 
     American people reached out to the people of his homeland, 
     Bert Sedee and his colleagues are reaching out to the people 
     in Slovenia, Latvia, Bosnia and beyond.
       The youngest members of the Sedee family are also in our 
     thoughts today--Gustaaf Sedee's grandchildren, Roeland and 
     Sander, nine months and one-and-a-half--I wonder what they 
     will say 50 years from today. I hope that they and all the 
     young people listening, those who are aware of what is going 
     on and those too young to understand it, will be able to say, 
     we bequeath to you 50 years of peace, freedom and prosperity. 
     I hope that you will have raised your sons and daughters in a 
     Europe whose horizons are wider than its frontiers. I hope 
     you will be able to tell your grandchildren--whose faces most 
     of us will not live to see--that this generation rose to the 
     challenge to be shapers of the peace.
       I hope that we will all do this, remembering the legacy of 
     George Marshall and envisioning a future brighter than any, 
     any people have ever lived.
       Thank you and God bless you. (Applause.)

       

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